Universe Replotted
by Yun Min
Summary: Following the reboot of the Universe, Ianto Jones finds himself in a world without the Doctor, without Torchwood, and more crucially without Jack. On his own, he struggles to find his way in a world where no one remembers quite what went on.


**: Universe Replotted :**

_Following the reboot of the Universe, Ianto Jones finds himself in a world without the Doctor, without Torchwood, and more crucially without Jack. On his own, he struggles to find his way in a world where no one remembers quite what went on._

Ianto Jones had died once. Died in the arms of his lover, and he thought that would be it. The darkness, the never ending darkness, forever. But the universe held a fondness for Ianto, and he found himself wrenched out of that world to say goodbye to Jack one last time.

Only, the universe is a bitch, and Ianto found himself trapped inside a sealed rift.

But then the silence came and cracks developed in time, and space, bleeding through reality. The universe reboots, a second big band, and Ianto Jones wakes up in Leadworth, Gloucestershire, attending the wedding of a red-haired woman. The groom is his friend. Apparently. His memories tell him that but he doesn't feel that way.

He steps outside when they make speeches, he hates the things, knows that much. Everything else is rather foggy.

There is a woman outside, watching the proceedings. Ianto is drawn to her though he doesn't understand why. His eyes go to her wrist. The device she wears there is familiar.

"You remember." The woman looks at him oddly, concerned. "You're not supposed to be here." Ianto shrugs, choosing to stay silent. "Do you know who you are?"

"Ianto Jones," Ianto answers; honestly, if the woman can tell he's not supposed to be here, she should probably know who he is.

The woman chuckles, a soft peal. "The only Torchwood employee in this version of reality. Congratulations. That's a feat. I'm almost jealous."

Torchwood. He remembers Torchwood. It all comes back to him at once; the smell, the space, laughter and yelling. Boom. Destruction. "Jack?"

A man in a great coat, impossibly handsome, attractive, who he yearns for, though he doesn't understand why. "I don't think he'll even exist in this version of reality."

"Why?"

"Why?" A twinkle emerges in her eyes. "Ianto Jones, the doctor is gone. Wiped from existence. As is everything he has ever done. Amy will bring him back,". A familiar whirling sound fills the air as she says this. "because she remembers her childhood imaginary friend. This reality is merely hours old. You can make anything of it."

Yes. Right. Of course. "Okay," Ianto nods, briefly, not really understanding. "Who are you, though."

"River Song. Archaeologist," she replies. "You'll understand soon enough."

"And what happens now?" he asks.

"Spoilers," is her only reply.

Ianto learns nothing more from River Song.

-x-

He doesn't really know where to go from there. He goes to Cardiff, what should be his home, but it is so different from the Cardiff he remembers – both from his new childhood and the old reality. Turns out the rift really did have a big impact.

London is the next thing on his list. He scouts Canary Wharf thoroughly, and then the rest of Torchwood London's properties to ascertain that yes, River was right, they don't exist in this version of reality. He sprains his ankle rooting around an old warehouse, and meets Martha Jones when he visits A&E that evening. She is a trainee doctor; motivated but uninspired, exactly how her file had said she was before she was transported to the moon and met the doctor.

Ianto knows that Martha bore many scars from her time journeying with the man, but he still thinks that the Martha from the old reality is better than this one.

He takes a trip up to Scotland to be certain that Torchwood really, really is gone. If any part of the organisation had managed to cling on, it would be Archie, stubbornly stuck in his ways. Ianto is pleasantly surprised by what he finds; Torchwood House has been converted into an archive which vaguely resembled Torchwood Two, but there is UNIT insignia everywhere. But Archie is an old constant, still the guardian of the archive.

It is tempting to stay there, within the old constant, but Ianto also knows it'll quickly raise questions when it gets out that he knows far more than the Ianto Jones of this reality should.

He wonders about the fact that UNIT still exists though. None of this reality really makes much sense. The Doctor doesn't exist (only he does). In addition, Ianto knows of all the things that the Doctor has stopped. It wasn't so much that the Doctor had never existed, only everyone had forgotten about that fact.

Which meant that Jack might – just might – still be out there somewhere. He was after all, a fixed point in time.

-x-

Ianto decides, after much thinking, to attempt to track down some of the other companions. He doesn't know all of them; after all, it's not like a centralised list, but the old Torchwood and UNIT were pretty good at tracking down and keeping tabs on anyone who they thought could be a companion.

The more recent ones are easier to find. He finds Rose Tyler working in a shop, newsagents, boring and dull. He gets talking and she tells him about all these plans she has to go and see the world, and Ianto can only think of how she once saw all of time and space, all at once. He tells her to keep the change, put it away, start saving for that adventure. After all, she never knows when it might find her.

He runs into Donna when they both temp in the same office one week. (Ianto has discovered he likes temp work. It fits his schedule more, prevents people learning too much about him, and he discovers he is good at all the jobs that temping requires.) Watching Donna, once the most important woman in all of creation, type and fix (really really awful) coffee all day long was depressing, much as the woman herself is full of sharp and acerbic wit. Ianto walks out of that contract before it's finished.

Separate obituaries confirm the deaths of Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright; apparently without the Doctor the pair had never gotten it together. Liz Shaw is easy to track down, given the vast number of papers she's published (Ianto reads between the lines and works out she's spent most of her time being tossed between UNIT and Cambridge, and had finally taken retirement to beat them all off).

Jo Grant is a mid level civil servant, married to some pillock. Ianto is familiar enough with her story to track down her old husband, who has stayed more true to his old track, though not nearly as successful without Jo at his side.

Sarah-Jane tracks him down, oddly enough. She's apparently noticed him researching all these unconnected people. She sits him down in a coffee shop one time.

It's odd watching her. Of all the companions he's seen, she is the one most similar to her old self, but there is also this massive gaping hole. She is a journalist, that early ambition always realised. But her spark is gone, her understanding for the extraordinary. Her passion is not though, and that is what draws Ianto to her.

He ends up working for her, her assistant, even ends up staying with her in what once, in another world was Luke Smith's room, so he can be at her beck and call all day long.

The universe hasn't been very good at compensating for the Doctor's disappearance, because every so often Ianto and Sarah find the things of a teenage boy. Things put back in places they shouldn't be. Sarah is rational enough not to believe in ghosts, but she cannot come up with another explanation and ignores it as much as she can.

Ianto doesn't mind it. It reminds him of the inherent wrongness of this reality, and it feels like steps are being taken to try and correct Amy's mistakes. Of course, that is not what is happening, but still.

-x-

Ianto has his own desk in Sarah-Jane's attic. In the corner is the small, ever growing pile of the fates of past companions. He is smart enough to keep Sarah's details out of it (after all, her fate is staring him in the face every day,) but she is with it enough to notice and enquire about it.

He catches her one day looking through it.

"What on earth do all these have in common, Ianto?"

She looks so serious, sitting in her chair, Ianto's files on the companions sitting on a desk at her side.

"Death certificates, military records, publishing lists," she flicks through. "There's even a missing person's report."

That belongs to the young Dorothy McShane, who vanished in unexplainable circumstances in 1987. Ianto doesn't know how to explain that one; in his timeline she had been running a charity. He also doesn't know how to explain it to Sarah-Jane without sounding like he's mad.

"It's complicated," he settled for. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me." Now there is the spark in her that Ianto has always admired.

He still doesn't know where to begin though. "I'm trying to find someone. Only no one else seems to remember them. All these people were associated with him."

"Ianto." She looks at him, questioning. She doesn't seem to have outrightly rejected his statement, which is a good thing, he supposes. She is considering her next statement carefully.

He decides to beat her to it. "There was this man once. The Doctor. The most brilliant man, that was how his friends described him. Only for some reason he was wiped from existence and this reality was created instead, where he never existed but still does exist and I have to tell you, it is really really confusing."

Sarah looks at him oddly again, and then pulls a file from her desk drawer. "There's this man who appears throughout history," she began. She hands a picture to Ianto. "Records seem to indicate he's called the Doctor. He's everywhere, without rhyme or reason, just seems to be calling out to someone." She pauses for a minute. Ianto looks at the picture. It's not Jack's doctor, not the one he first met or the one who saved them from the destruction of worlds, but it is definitely him alright.

"He seems familiar to me. Like an old friend who I know dearly, but I don't," she says. "Should I be on your list?"

Ianto doesn't have much choice but to tell the truth now. "Yes." To his surprise, Sarah looks relieved. "You met him in the course of one of your investigations and travelled with him for a few years, before he abandoned you in Aberdeen. You met him many years later, during another investigation. He's been a part of your life for a very long time."

"I knew there was a reason I hated Aberdeen."

-x-

He and Sarah get along even better after that. Knowing that they both have secrets. Ianto is relieved to find someone who knows the world is upside down, even if Sarah doesn't remember how the world was before.

They keep looking; it is easier now that there are two of them. Sarah's job helps give them an official story for anyone who looks too closely at their records. Ianto is no Tosh, but discovers that this reality's UNIT uses pretty much the same passwords so they manage to access the files. There isn't much there, truth be told. It seems without the Doctor on the planet, alien threats are much less drawn to earth.

Or maybe it's just that UNIT without the Doctor is not as aware of them. Anyway, the world doesn't seem to be close to ending with anywhere near the frequency it did back in the old version of reality.

They keep a close eye on Cardiff, for (at least, as far as they can tell) the rift is still there. But it is nowhere near as active as it once had been. Ianto knows the rift spontaneously started chucking up stuff in 1869. He'd always figured that there was a little more to it than that, but Torchwood didn't actually have a record of what had caused the opening of the rift.

He figured now the Doctor was involved. It was the only thing that made sense.

Standing on the edge of the Roald Dahl Plass with Sarah, looking out to the bay, he sees Gwen run past, Andy hot on her heels. It seemed like she'd stuck with the police work then.

He'd been so focused on finding Jack that he hadn't given much of a thought to his old teammates. In fairness, only Gwen had been left alive when Ianto had left the old world.

Tracking Tosh proves to be damn impossible. He knows she was involved with the Ministry of Defence in some capacity, and that turns out to be true in this world as well. But beyond that she simply vanishes. Her file in the past reality had been sealed, way above his clearance level, he has no idea what happened to her between that and coming to Torchwood.

Owen proves not much easier. Ianto knows a little bit more about his past, making it easier. Katie survived longer in this version of reality, long enough for them to get married, before she passed away two months later. Owen was officially placed on leave, and never came back.

Ianto's good at following paper trails though. He follows the money from where Owen sold the house, from where he moved bit by bit, paying in cash where he could. Just enough gets written down that Ianto can track him.

Bradford is not an attractive place, not on the list of cities to ever be visited, but that is where Ianto tracks Owen to. He goes alone, leaves Sarah behind. The ghosts of her old life are getting stronger, like the old version of reality is bleeding through and reasserting itself. Ianto doesn't know what it'll mean for him.

He has the paperwork that traces what should be Owen's latest address. Only when he gets there, it is not Owen who answers the door. Whoever it is who does open the door has no idea who Owen is, and furthermore has apparently been living there the last three years (despite Ianto having the paperwork that proves that Owen has been there for the last three months.) Arguing with the guy on the door doesn't seem to be getting him anywhere so Ianto moves on.

There is a nice cafe at the end of the road that serves just barely acceptable coffee, so Ianto stops there to call Sarah-Jane. Only her phone is answered by a young man, "Hey, who is this?"

"Ianto Jones," Ianto replies, but he suspects he already knows what's happened. The universe has reasserted itself just a bit. He can hear them talking in the background, a cry of "Yo Sarah-Jane do you know a Ianto Jones?" and her reply of "No, I don't think so."

"Sorry mate," comes the reply. Ianto thinks it is probably Clyde Langer on the phone, it doesn't sound like Luke. He briefly wonders what the universe has done with all his stuff that had been left in Sarah's house. It didn't really matter anyway, it wasn't like he actually had anything important. "Must have the wrong number."

"Sorry for disturbing you." Ianto doesn't want to press the issue right now. He hears Clyde put down the phone and the reaction as the line goes dead.

He returns to the train station, pops into the newsagent on a platform. As he suspected, the headlines are completely different from what they were that morning. The world has changed, but Ianto doesn't quite know how much. He picks up a book which asserts it's an overview of the most important events of the last ten years, and finds that it doesn't mention any of the old universe disasters – no spaceship crashing into Big Ben, no Canary Wharf, no Planets in the Sky.

It is difficult to know where to go next. He has lost Sarah-Jane's resources. Everything is probably slightly different now.

He thinks back to when he first arrived. To the wedding. River Song had stated that Amy would bring the Doctor back.

Maybe it's time to start tracking them down.

-x-

Ianto was sort of intending on going back to Cardiff, checking what has changed there on the rift, but he doesn't quite make it. First, he spots a billboard with the face of Amy Pond on it, advertising some new perfume. Secondly, he reads about some strange power fluctuations that are taking place in Essex, and for some reason reads Cyberman into it, and decides that that is where he is meant to be.

People are disappearing all over the place, and they are perfectly ordinary people, so Ianto is fairly confident that they are not related to the slow drip drop of people falling in and out of time as this reality stabilises.

Although he catches a glimpse of a poster advertising the latest work of charity "A Charitable Earth" and breathes a sigh of relief that one more person has been returned to their proper place in time.

What he doesn't expect is on his second day in Essex to find the Doctor working in a shop.

He is accompanied by a man who Ianto has never seen or heard of before, who carries a baby with him everywhere. All in all, it's a very strange turn of events.

It doesn't take long to work out that the Doctor has it all under control. Or as under control as the Doctor ever has anything. Which isn't much, admittedly, but the Doctor at least has some technology on his side.

Ianto often forgets that now he is just one man, without the arsenal of Torchwood (or well Jack) to back him up, and while Myfanwy had been happily subdued with dark chocolate, that was a strategy that just didn't work with most aliens.

He watches as the Doctor says his last goodbyes to the children who are standing outside the phone box. They don't know it yet, but their lives will have been changed forever at this encounter. He's read enough of the reports to know that.

He knocks on poor Craig Owen's door, who opens the door looking ever slightly exasperated. Upon seeing Ianto, he does stop dead.

"Sorry, do I know you?"

"I'm a friend of the Doctor's." It's not the whole truth, but how on earth does he go about explaining exactly what he is. He doesn't even really understand it most of the time.

"You just missed him," Craig replies.

"I know." He'd seen him go, after all. "Can I come in anyway?"

"Sure, why not?" Ianto detects a hint of sarcasm under his voice, but he does allow Ianto into the house. "Sophie, we've got another guest."

"Oh Craig," a voice comes in reply from the kitchen. Ianto follows Craig as they wander into the kitchen. "You wouldn't know how this new coffee machine works, would you?"

"Not a clue, sorry," Craig replies as he goes to the baby sitting in a high chair at the table.

Ianto observes the poor woman standing in front of the coffee machine, looking very confused. "I can help." He steps over, and takes a look at the machine. It is fairly basic, easy to use, and Ianto knows exactly how it works. He quickly gets a cup of coffee out of it and hands it to Sophie, who takes a drink of it.

"Oh that's heavenly," she says as she absorbs the intoxicating scent coming off the top of the mug. Another second and she is back in her environment, and looks at Ianto. "Oh hello, I'm Sophie, who are you?"

"Ianto Jones," Ianto replies, shaking her hand politely.

"He's a friend of the Doctor's," Craig adds. The baby gurgles.

"Oh, do you know why he rushed off so quickly then?" Sophie asks.

Ianto takes a deep breath and puts on his best serious face. "Actually, I was hoping you could tell me that."

There are looks of surprise on both Sophie and Craig's faces. They obviously weren't expecting that question, and Ianto can see why they wouldn't. Craig moves from hovering round the highchair to take a seat on the sofa, and Sophie goes round to join him.

It is Craig who starts talking. "He said he was going to America." Ianto thinks to himself that that really is far too ordinary a destination for the Doctor, but Craig seems to be saying more. "But, he also said he was on a farewell tour. This was his last stop."

Oh. Ianto's face dropped. There is no way of finding out what is happening to the world without the Doctor. No chance of finding Jack.

"Why?"

It's a simple question posed by Craig, but the answer is oh so complicated. "It's a long story." Both Craig and Sophie have similar looks on their faces as Sarah-Jane did, like they are just daring him to try them. "I'm from a different reality. And I have a friend there, who used to travel with the doctor, and I need to find him. Only to do so I need to find the Doctor."

Craig and Sophie both silently nod. They don't ask questions; they know that it isn't any of their concern. "I hope you find him," Sophie settles for.

"Not much chance of that now," Ianto replies, slightly defeated.

"You never know. The Doctor works in very odd ways." Now that Ianto can most certainly agree with.

-x-

Ianto doesn't really know what to do next; America is awfully big to go searching across at a moments notice, it doesn't really work. The chance of finding the Doctor is so slim.

Two days later, as Ianto sits in another cafe – this one does actually make good coffee, making it Ianto's favourite by far – when he realises that another shift has happened.

Twenty minutes later, and it is still two minutes past five.

There isn't much he can do about it, so he goes to sleep.

But when he wakes up, it is still 5:02, on the 22nd of April. More interestingly than that, it seems as if he is part of some strange military operation dedicated to fighting the Silence (he's unclear on the whys and how, but playing along seems to go well for him.)

Possibly odder is the fact that Amy Pond is in charge of this entire operation. Oh, and the fact that Winston Churchill was the Holy Roman Emperor. Ianto was still puzzling that one out.

He's pretty much had it with the universe changing around him at this point. He doesn't even bat an eye at it.

They rescue the Doctor from a strange nest of those Silent things, and Ianto learns that the strange eye patches (eye drives) are so that they remember the existence of the silence.

And then they are on a train to Area 52. Which Ianto finds odd, again, cause he's fairly certain he'd have been briefed if Area 52 actually existed (as he knew Area 51 did.) The Doctor and Amy have a reunion, she seems blissfully unaware that her Captain of the Guard is actually her husband.

The Doctor steps outside of Amy's carriage for a moment and then locks eyes with Ianto Jones.

A clear look of confusion covers his face; surprise, shock, Ianto doesn't quite know what, but it isn't all good. "Hello, Doctor," is what he settles for.

"Ianto Jones," the Doctor replies. "Aren't you..."

"Dead? Sealed inside a Rift?" Ianto suggests. "Doctor, Amy can't even remember that the Captain of the Guard is her husband and time is standing still and you're wondering why I'm here."

"Well yes."

"I've been wondering that myself for a while now. I just want to find Jack," Ianto replies.

The Doctor ponders for a moment. "You know, I don't know what happened to Jack."

"You rebooted the universe and he vanished." Ianto is bitter about his reply. "But Jack's a fixed point in space and time. He can't just have vanished."

There isn't any time for any more conversation, for Amy comes to collect the Doctor then.

A battle later and the timeline reasserts itself and Ianto finds himself back in Cardiff, just above the rift.

He grabs a newspaper. Somehow he's missed two years, and it's now 2013.

Oh this is going to be fun.

-x-

He decides he's had it with subtlety. The universe is obviously determined to keep him around, so he might as well use his skills. He actually decides to keep up his supposed friendship with Rory that the universe has just made a thing. He gets a job with UNIT under Kate Stewart, which is, well...

Interesting isn't quite the right word. He knows of her history, knows she is the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, even though everyone else doesn't really seem to be that with it.

Kate seems determined to reform UNIT. Take it from a rough military, uniformed operation to a sleek scientific research outlet. Ianto could see it turning into Torchwood One, but under someone else's hands. He feels secure under the instruction of Kate. And besides, he sticks close. He knows all the warning signs. Hasn't found any cybermen lurking in the basement.

In fact, not very much happens. The one thing all these universe reboots seem to be doing is calming down the general amount Alien Activity.

And then the cubes appear. Ianto is on the late shift, a junior researcher alerts him to their presence, and he calls Kate, who manages to be in in under 40 minutes.

After ascertaining that the Cubes pose no immediate threat, they set gathering them up and testing them. It doesn't so them much good, nothing affects them. At least it feels like they're achieving something.

Twenty-two hours later, Ianto and Kate notice a spark in the artron energy reading. Ianto notes it is at Amy and Rory's house, meaning it is almost certainly the Doctor, and not Clyde Langer getting excited about something again (which very occasionally happens.)

UNIT troops storm the house. Ianto lets Kate take the lead; she has never met the Doctor before. Rory lets out a quip about only being in his pants.

When Rory returns, with trousers, he is the one who spots Ianto. "You could have let me know, Yan, honestly."

Ianto just chuckles. Rory's reaction is worth it. This statement catches the attention of both Kate and the Doctor though.

"You two know each other?" Kate questions. She feels like she ought to have known this, really, she and Ianto are close.

Ianto gives a simple nod. Neither he or Rory get a chance to explain though, as the Doctor comes charging through. "Oh Ianto Jones, good to see you again. UNIT though, bit of a change?"

It is Rory and Amy's turn to look confused. "Torchwood doesn't exist in this reality, remember?" Ianto replies.

"Wait," Amy interjects. "You two know each other."

"It's complicated," Ianto starts.

"Of course," the Doctor exclaims at the same time, and Ianto just stands there, not looking impressed. "Ianto Jones, survivor of the battle of Canary Wharf, member of Torchwood Three, killed defending the earth from the 456 and then sealed inside the Cardiff Rift."

"I have always wondered if you knew about the 456," Ianto mutters but he is drowned out by everyone else.

"Doctor, he is most definitely not dead, I can see him in front of me," Amy says.

"Torchwood's been defunct for over a hundred years," is Kate's contribution.

Rory settles for, "Great, someone else who can't die, join the club."

All in all, they were off to a good start.

-x-

The cubes don't do much. Ianto and Kate get daily reports from Rory's father, who seems to be taking his mission to watch the cubes rather seriously. It's good that he is, because UNIT can't keep channelling funds into testing the cubes.

Kate is increasingly interested in Ianto, wanting his advice on assorted things, wanting to know about the world which he came from, wanting to learn from all the things he knew. Both of them looked to find new recruits, the best and brightest.

Which is how Ianto ends up finding Toshiko Sato. Kate mentions her one day, her file has been in the pile of possible recruits for years, but they can't find her. Ianto, surprised that she has a UNIT file, looks into it further.

That is when he and Kate find all the prisoners UNIT is keeping. Ianto looks at Kate, despondent, faith shaken, but she just looks back at him and whispers "I didn't know."

Toshiko doesn't know him, Ianto doesn't expect her to. She is surprised when he offers her a job, straight off, high level research for him and Kate. They need someone of her brilliance. And oh is she brilliant, once Ianto coaxes her out of her shell, convinces her that she really is good.

He wonders if this was how Jack felt, tying their team of broken misfits together. After finding Tosh he scouts for Owen again, but there is no sign of him, no sign of his existence at all. It's a shame really.

The cubes activate, unexpectedly one day. Kate calls in the Doctor, Amy and Rory come with him, bring their own little brand of crazy. He meets Toshiko very eagerly, and she just looks very confused, and of course he doesn't notice it.

That would be the Doctor, always oblivious to the damage he caused.

As Kate stands there looking panicked about exactly how she's going to deal with this next crisis, the Doctor simply gives her some spiel which Ianto supposes is supposed to be reassuring, but really isn't. He ends it by looking at Ianto, and saying, "You'll be fine, how many crises have you lived through now?"

The answer to that question is really far, far too many, but that is hardly the point.

It is alright in the end, it always is, the news reporting that miraculously everyone is still alive.

Ianto notices the Doctor's attempts to slip out quietly, but he is determined to follow.

"Look," he says, just as the Doctor is about to enter the TARDIS. "I just want to know what happened to Jack."

The Doctor does stop dead in his tracks, turning to face Ianto. "You have a wonderful life here."

"You're avoiding the question." Ianto cuts him off quickly. "I'm not supposed to be here, we both know that, and frankly nothing in this universe makes any sense and the timeline is so skewed I'm having trouble keeping track of anything that's going on anymore."

The Doctor doesn't seem to want to give an answer, so Ianto continues. "He's a fixed point in time and space, I know what that means, despite all the universe rebooting and the timeline continuing to be rewritten, I know he's out there. He told me once that the battle of Canary Wharf, the Dalek invasion, none of that was supposed to happen, it's not in his history, he came from the future of this timeline. Please," Ianto pauses. "I just need to know he's safe."

"He's not your Jack, you know that," the Doctor is being unusually cautious. "He won't remember you."

"That's your fault, not mine," Ianto replies. "Besides, everyone seems to remember you now, despite the fact that you were supposed to be erased from existence. My off-planet sources also indicate that you are supposed to be dead."

"Yes, well," the Doctor stutters for a moment. "I was getting too big. Had to go smaller."

"I'm not concerned about that. I'm just thinking that Jack might remember more than you give him credit for."

"No one remembers who you truly are in this timeline," the Doctor reminds him.

"Must be a testament to how closely my fate is linked with Torchwood," Ianto replies. "And seeing how that curiously has been completely wiped from this reality, it's no wonder."

There is no clever, witty retort to that one. "Please."

Ianto can see the moment when the Timelord decides to give in.

"Come in, come in, you might as well come with me on this madcap rescue mission."

And that is that, Ianto is aboard the TARDIS for the first time.

-x-

It takes a fair bit of work to convince the TARDIS that she does actually want to go looking for Jack. But once they manage it, she has no problem tracking him back to the 51st Century. He is not so far from home then.

Ianto hangs back in the TARDIS, no longer quite so sure of himself. The Doctor is right, they have no idea what Jack will be like. Most of the companions do seem to have regained their memories of the old timeline, but it is not a certainty. Even if Jack did remember everything, Ianto is a very different person to the one Jack saw last.

The Doctor goes leaping out of the TARDIS, exclaiming everywhere. Ianto thinks he's forgotten that he is not one of your standard companions, he's fairly immune to the charms of the universe. He's seen too many times when everything doesn't end up okay, when not everyone lives.

He approaches the TARDIS door with some fear.

There is an argument going on. He can tell that much. "Hey, I saw him first." "Well he's my husband." "Yeah, well I spent 150 years waiting for him." "Not in this timeline you didn't." and finally a "Hello, Sweetie."

He recognises the woman now as River Song, who had greeted him when he had first emerged into this universe. The Doctor greets her, and she says something, flirty, sarcastic back but Ianto doesn't hear because he is far too busy focusing on who is behind River.

"Oh come on, we all know who's more pretty. There's probably some of the old posters lying around here," Jack says. He looks around, eyes finally falling on the TARDIS, and more importantly, who's behind the front door.

"Ianto," he whispers, under his breath. He freezes, eyes locked on Ianto. There is no doubt about it, he knows who Ianto is, this is his Jack, the Jack who he loves and loves him in return. River looks at the Doctor, looks between them, not quite knowing what to make of it. And all at once the spell is broken, as Jack turns to the Doctor. "Doc, please tell me this isn't a trick."

"No trick," is the Doctor's reply. "That is Ianto Jones, born in 20th Century Cardiff. Something weird happened when Amy rebooted the Universe and he got brought back."

"How long?" Jack's voice is weak, struggling.

"Three years," Ianto replies. "That's what I can remember, what I lived. I lost two in the middle somewhere."

He finally steps out the TARDIS doorway, beginning a journey towards Jack. Jack joins him, taking a couple of steps towards him.

When they meet, neither is sure quite what to do. Ianto at least doesn't attempt the handshake he had when Jack had come back from the dead that one time they thought he really was actually dead. Jack eventually pulls him into his arms, and buries his head in Ianto's shoulder, sobbing just slightly.

"I wondered. I wondered all the time. What happened to you. What happened to everyone," Jack says.

Ianto nods into Jack, silently agreeing. "Tosh is fine, she's alive, she works for me at UNIT. Gwen's a police officer, married Rhys. I can't find Owen."

Jack is grateful for the news, even though it is not all positive. As the pair seperate, he brings his hands up to Ianto's face, kissing him swiftly and purely.

"Come back to the 21st Century with me," Ianto says, quietly.

"You could always stay here," Jack suggests.

"Come on Jack, you'll miss the family dinner," River says.

"Family Dinner?" Jack replies, eyebrows questioning. "I've missed something, haven't I?"

Ianto grabs his hand, and drags him back into the TARDIS. "I can't wait to see Rory's face when we explain this one."

-x-

Later, in the Pond's back yard (they had all done that family dinner River had threatened), Ianto sits and thinks about the lot that he's been handed. When he'd first been thrust into this world, hustling and bustling and having suffered none of the torment his own had, he wondered if he could ever make a home here.

He has, somehow, made friends and got himself a job. Explaining Jack to Kate Stewart could be interesting. Maybe they could re-open a form of Torchwood somewhere. Maybe they could finally find what happened to Owen.

Jack comes out, looking bemused. "It's an odd lot," Ianto comments.

"I just," Jack begins, and then stops. "Sarah-Jane said once that we were like the Doctor's family. And I suppose we were. It's just odd seeing him with an actual one."

"Mmhhh," Ianto agrees. "I spent ages tracking down what happened to all the companions in this reality." He thinks a bit more. "Actually, that was before the timeline reasserted itself. It's probably all different now."

"Everything's different," Jack comments. He is right of course.

They gaze up to the night sky. There is one constant. Throughout all the shifting realities and timelines, the stars had never gone out.

They'd never been replotted like everyone's lives had been.

Though, now, everything seemed to be back on track. Maybe they'd actually get a decent run at it.

-x-

Ianto realises that even though this rebooted universe is, in general, better than the old one, he realises very firmly that it is not perfect as he and Jack stand in front of Amy and Rory's graves.

They've been dead for 25 years and yet it's only been a few weeks since they saw him last.

Ianto leans on Jack. They'd spent a lot of time recently discussing plans for the future. Kate seemed willing to let them take the Torchwood name on, Toshiko was glad to be out of UNIT. They didn't quite know where to put their home base yet, still tracking down hotspots. Part of the reason they were in America was to track down the source of some unusual activity over Cleveland.

And Owen. They'll find out what really did happen to him. Ianto reckons he might even persuade one of Sarah-Jane's protégées to come and liaise with them.

They'll build a better future, one that everyone they'd lost could be proud of.

And hopefully this time it would actually last.

-x-

Notes:

This started as an attempt to reason with the timelines of Series 5/6/7, only having finished it I don't feel like I got any closer to actually untangling what the hell is happening with it. The only conclusion I came to is that it really makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and good luck for trying to explain the eternal pain which I feel will be the fiftieth anniversary special's timeline.

The references to Old!Who were fun, lots of relying on the information given in the Sarah-Jane Episode The Death of the Doctor.

This is based on an old fic which has been sitting around my work in progress folder for years; I must have started it shortly after attempting the puzzle out the timeline for Pandorica Opens/Big Bang. I think. I don't really know. It was interesting to see all the squirelly directions this fic took, I got to include lots from my favourite recent episodes.

Thanks for reading!~


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